Li Qing looked at the Jade Tablet. After it had gathered nearly all the cultivation techniques, a completely new technique had appeared.
A strange, thoughtful look entered his eyes.
"Every cultivation path in the Humanity's Overview Technique comes from my own body."
"It doesn't rely at all on the organs of any Anomaly or the limbs of other people."
"All the essence comes from within me. The Jade Tablet must have deliberately chosen this path."
"Its purpose must be to stop me from casually absorbing essence from outside to cultivate my foundational technique."
"And this technique doesn't seem complete yet. It can still incorporate more techniques."
"But the materials needed to cultivate it are also very rare."
"Five different century-old spirit herbs. Finding them won't be easy."
"I can ask around tomorrow."
"Right, I'm afraid I won't have any use for the things collected for the Black Water Art."
"Then why not make a deal with Wang Kuohai?"
"See if he can help me gather those things."
"As much as possible, I still need more cultivation techniques."
"These century-old spirit herbs must be worth quite a bit. Maybe I can trade them for more techniques at the Scripture Tower."
All sorts of thoughts flashed through his mind. Before he knew it, another night had passed.
Early the next morning, he went to find Wang Kuohai.
When Wang Kuohai saw Li Qing arrive, his face immediately lit up with delight.
"Mr. Qin, you're here."
Li Qing looked at Wang Kuohai and smiled faintly. "Brother Wang, did you manage to collect the things I asked you to find?"
"Hahaha, Mr. Qin, I sent people to handle your request right away."
"Everything else has been gathered, except that Black Profound Ganoderma. I don't know what it is."
"It cost one hundred taels of silver in total. Here are the remaining nine hundred taels in banknotes."
As he spoke, he took out the banknotes, set them on the table, and handed them to Li Qing.
Hearing this, Li Qing smiled faintly.
He waved a hand and asked, "Would you like to cultivate, fellow Daoist?"
Wang Kuohai's heart skipped a beat.
His face trembled slightly as he said, "Mr. Qin, are you willing to teach me?"
"We can make a deal."
"Help me collect these five century-old spirit herbs."
"If you can gather them all, I'll pass a cultivation technique on to you."
"Once mastered, it can give you a lifespan of at least one hundred to one hundred and fifty years."
Essence Refining, Body Strengthening, Human Tribulation.
The Essence Refining Realm granted a lifespan of one hundred years; Body Strengthening, one hundred and twenty; and surviving the Human Tribulation, one hundred and fifty.
Hearing this, boundless anticipation rose in Wang Kuohai's heart. He was already over forty.
In this era, even a martial artist who lived to seventy or eighty was considered long-lived.
To live to one hundred—or even one hundred and twenty—would be a rarity throughout history.
With this technique, his Lineage might even pass down the Immortal Path. Perhaps one day, they could enter the legendary world of the Dao Lineages.
Wang Kuohai's heart pounded. With trembling hands, he took the information Li Qing handed him.
As he read it, his face fell. He sighed helplessly and said,
"Mr. Qin, you're really asking the impossible of me."
"These five spirit herbs are hard to come by even if they're only ten years old."
"I've seen century-old ones at only a few auctions."
"Each one is worth ten thousand taels of silver. Even the All-Under-Heaven Escort Agency can't afford to buy more than a few."
Li Qing smiled faintly and said, "An Immortal's fate is hard to come by. If it were easy to obtain, would it still be an Immortal's fate?"
"Take your time to consider it, Brother Wang. If you find them, I'll teach you the technique."
Wang Kuohai's expression shifted repeatedly, then a determined glint entered his eyes.
"I'll find a way to get my hands on them."
Li Qing nodded slightly. "I'll be staying in Jade City for a while. As long as I'm here, our deal stands."
After making arrangements with Wang Kuohai, Li Qing slipped away from the All-Under-Heaven Escort Agency without a sound.
As he walked along the bustling street, he kept an eye on the essence drifting through the air.
Essence, almost impossible to detect, wafted from every person and flowed into the sky.
Even the wild dogs by the roadside gave off the faintest trace of essence.
Some of the large trees beside the road also emitted a wisp of very faint essence.
Perhaps because his own essence had grown stronger, Li Qing was becoming more and more adept at detecting the essence in the air.
"Everything alive gives off essence."
"Once released, the essence doesn't disappear. It gathers above the city."
"Essence must gather in forests too, but although there are plenty of trees, they give off so little that it's hard to notice."
"A big tree at least several decades old gives off less essence than a child."
"And forests are vast, so you wouldn't see it unless you looked carefully."
"There may be three main paths of cultivation in this world."
"One draws on human essence, another on the essence of animals and insects, and the third on the essence of trees."
"These kinds of essence must have different effects and side effects. That's what they call Aberration."
"The side effects are most likely caused by the nature of these kinds of essence. In the end, they don't harmonize with human essence, causing the body to mutate."
Li Qing walked on, observing his surroundings, and soon reached the Government Office.
His gaze swept over the street where the Government Office stood. Another official institution beside it caught his eye.
The institution had no signboard. Only two stone lions stood at its entrance, alongside guards clad in armor.
The guards didn't seem like ordinary people either. Watching from a distance, he saw that their essence was contained within them, not scattered.
That was a clear mark of cultivators: all the essence in their bodies had been absorbed to fuel their cultivation, with almost none leaking out.
Li Qing watched carefully from afar. "Is this the Demon Extermination Hall? Even the gatekeepers are cultivators."
"That mysterious Demon Extermination Captain, Wen Taiquan, said the Demon Extermination Hall is backed by the Hundred Schools of Thought."
"Does that mean there are inheritances of the Hundred Schools of Thought inside?"
"I wonder what sort of setup they have there."
"My current situation is troublesome."
"First, I need cultivation techniques."
"Second, I need Essence Stones. They're the only thing that can speed up my cultivation."
"After the Jade Tablet transforms an Essence Stone, only about one-tenth of its original essence remains."
"It must have filtered out a great deal of useless and harmful material."
"The Demon Extermination Hall's main targets are Anomalies and cultivators with Aberrations."
"I can get a lot of information from them."
"If cultivation sects have all blended into the cities, then the government might be a good place to hide."
"As the saying goes, it's easy to cultivate in government service. The power of a dynasty can bring countless benefits."
"Many things that are impossible to find elsewhere can be obtained there."
"Based on what I've observed so far and what's recorded in the True Diary..."
"Rogue Cultivators in this world have a miserable time of it."
"In those diaries, I didn't see a single Rogue Cultivator above the True Method Realm."
"It's very likely that the cultivation techniques needed to climb higher are strictly controlled."